The Abyss

The article was composed by Oliver Sacks. It mainly deals with the story of Clive

Wearing, who was abruptly diagnosed with Herpes Encephalitis. The brain disease quickly

damaged and rooted itself in Clive’s brain, and left him with the feeling of ever presently being

alive for the first time. This sensation has created a situation where Clive can only live in the

present, whereas he doesn’t remember what his past is, say childhood, or even the moments that

have gone by. Though he has this severe handicap, his wife, Deborah, stands by him while a

house takes care for him. Sacks had severe headaches before being diagnosed. His frontal lobe

was not damaged as he can still conduct conversations.

I never knew herpes could hurt your brain as much as your genitals. It seems like a 1 in

1,000,000 disease, and those it is both a curse and a blessing. A curse in that this man’s life has

been virtually destroyed by this disease, yet a blessing because it allows scientists to explore the

functions of the human brain even further by studying the effects of Herpes Encephalitis.

Reminiscence

There are two cases in this article, the first being about an older woman named Mrs. O’C

who had tunes stuck in her head. The tunes would only last a couple days at a time, and became

less intense overtime as well. When looking into the problem, it was found that she was having

seizures in the temporal lobe, which would constantly play Irish songs from her childhood. The

other patient went by the name of Mrs. O’M, who had a similar problem. Mrs. O’M would hear

songs throughout the day, which was later treated with medicines. An EEG of Mrs. O’M showed

large amounts of voltage activity in the temporal lobes, which would indicate why she kept

hearing those sounds in her head.

What I found interesting about these incidents is not the songs playing in the head, but

why stimulation in the frontal lobe caused these songs to play. Why would the area associated

with higher learning be able to trigger such random songs from a time when that part of the brain

was not fully developed? And in addition, why did these electrical shocks create such a

disturbance in the brain?

Thanks for the Memories

This article pertains to the study done by EF Loftus in 1975. Essentially, Loftus focused

on the effect of guiding questions and their effect on a patient’s memory during hypnosis and

therapy. A guiding question is essentially a question that leads the subject to create specific

answers that may or may not be accurate. This answer may not have been reached if the guiding

question was not introduced. These questions and their responses generally tend to deal with

something that happened in the past, perhaps during childhood. What this studied proved is that

that memories can be retrieved even if repressed, but also there is a caveat, that being that these

memories can be completely false. Thus, although it can be useful, it is perhaps not the best

method in getting evidence in courts. If I witness saw a crime being committed, or just thought

they did, can perhaps determine the life of another human being.

I think that recalling the memory of someone using guiding question is almost like bending

reality. It’s just like when you dream something happened and you think it happened in real life.

These false memories can be very dangerous given the situation. The interesting thing about

memories is how they are perceived later on. I remember my childhood home, in fact the entire

lay out, the materials, the carpet, everything. I can remember certain events, like my 13th birthday

or moving to Florida. But I believe that the emotion during those moments somehow make us

perceive those memories in different ways.

The Lost Mariner

This article pertains to the life of a man who had very bad memory problems. The patient

in particular is Jimmie G., who cannot recall anything past the 1940’s. Mr. G was given a slew of

tests, all of which yielded similar inconclusive results; the interesting part about Mr. G was that

he could remember his childhood in great detail. Doctors could not find the reason behind his

memory loss or brain damage, friends and relatives said he never had any trauma to his brain.

What was most surprising about Mr. G was in the Navy for almost 20 years after his memory cut

off and was able to function coherently, yet afterwards he spiraled into alcoholism.

There are several different scenarios and explanations about Mr. G’s condition. What I

found interesting is that fact that the Navy claimed that he was functioning normally, even

though he had this memory loss. In addition, I found it interesting he would be frustrated at his

appearance, because to him it seemed like he was older than he was. This case presents several

questions, mainly how does this man have brain damage? And how did he function with such a

large impairment?